With the chants of “Hail Satan!” in Texas still ringing in
ears of people of conscience, it should be of note that the Tuesday, July 9th
marks the 73rd Anniversary of the German Evangelist Church’s protest
of Adolph Hitler’s euthanasia pogroms.
It was officially known as Action T4 and it consisted of the murder of
around 200 thousand people. They were killed through the use of medication in
some cases phenol, by starvation and by gas. These people were mentally or
physically disabled- “the least of these” one might say. This came on the heels
of a law enacted almost as soon as the Nazi’s took power in Germany: a law that
forced the sterilization of people with such diseases as Huntington’s,
schizophrenia, and even epilepsy. A Nazi doctor by the name of Hermann
Pfannmüller commented that he simply could not abide the thought of the best of
the German people should die in that country’s war against the Allies to
protect what he called “feebleminded, and irresponsible asocial elements”.

When one considers the unpleasant image of leering sneering
hordes shouting “Hail Satan” and placing coat hangers in the hands of children,
one must also remember that for otherwise
reasonable, compassionate people to become unreasonable and merciless, one only
needs to remember that the right of set stimuli can produce those very results.

Had Hitler at the outset told the people of Germany that he
would lead them into a war that would devastate their country, turn many of
them into sociopaths, lay waste to a continent and brand their nation with a
stigma so vile, so odious and so intrinsically violent that its repercussions
would stain that nation well into the next century and poison the minds of
generations yet unborn, many Germans would have said “No way are we letting you
into power.”

But he did not tell them that. He told them that their
nation had arrived at its sorry state because of oppression by others. He
convinced them to rise up and assert their natural superiority over those who
had kept Germany down. And he carefully began to take people and divide them by
labels, removing their humanity and making them easy scapegoats and targets.
Once people have bought off on the idea that something evil is being done for
the common good then slaughtering those who are considered the dead weight of
the nation becomes nauseatingly enough, common sense. For many Germans, by the
time they realized they had mortgaged their national soul to Satan the bodies
were already piling up. It would take a World War to bring a halt to it in
Germany.

So in the harsh light of history, the image of people
chanting “Hail Satan” has precedent. Although many of those are products of the
Happy Meal/You-Tube/My-Crotch-Is-The-Axis-Mundi generation, they have been led
to believe that invoking the name of the Enemy makes them erudite, witty and
freedom fighters. It is the same mentality that gripped Germany in the 1930’s
and 1940’s but on a microcosmic scale. In
their deranged heart of hearts, these miscreants see themselves as doing
something productive in the world, and striking a blow against an oppressor,
even as they remain blissfully, and perhaps intentionally unaware of the bloody
harvest of Kermit Gosnell.

There was some reaction to the pogroms. The Catholic Church
in Germany could not come to terms with the idea. The program in fact evoked
widespread protests. Some protestant churchmen protested privately, but not
publicly. Letters, from both Protestants and Catholics were drafted and sent at
times read publicly. By 1941, Hitler ordered an end to the pogroms. There were
those who called themselves Christians who embraced the Nazi ideals, and the
Protestant church in Germany would find itself at one point split into three
competing groups because of the Nazi party.

And there were some great lights such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer
who refused to buckle no matter the cost.

At this moment, the Administration has shrewdly delayed
implementing Employer Mandate of the Affordable Healthcare Act until after the
election of Hilary Clinton. But it has not delayed the implementation of the
Individual Mandate nor has it delayed the mandate that contraception, abortions
and abortifacients be covered. And in doing so, it has effectively said that
the free exercise of religion no longer exists without government sanction. And
had shown that one’s conscience must take a backseat for the greater good.